83 Days ’til 40: Trashing Our Cities

30Nov

It appears that today’s post is going to be another short rant…. sorry! I was driving home from work tonight and was inspired by the scene pictured above. This was what I saw in the grass next to a stop light. It made me sad, it made me embarrassed, it made me angry.

I am working hard to teach my children the importance of taking care of themselves, their possessions, and the environment that surrounds them. However, when we are continually seeing all sorts of garbage in the streets, it makes it very hard for me to teach them to respect themselves and others. All around our city there is garbage – it makes me sad and embarrassed on behalf of my city. Why don’t people care? Why don’t people have enough self-respect and community pride to want to treat our city well? Why don’t they help us all to keep our world looking nice? When they litter, they are hurting the rest of us.

Today, 83 days ’til 40, I hope that more people will understand that everyone plays an important role in respecting our environment, and, ultimately, ourselves.

20 responses to “83 Days ’til 40: Trashing Our Cities”

A gentle reminder my sister, that we should muster ALL of our time, talents and treasures (including our energy), ONLY where we have control, leverage and influence and NO WHERE ELSE! It is deeply sad for sure, but it’s also important to realize that this too, comes with the freedom of choice. Alright – I’m off my soapbox. I just love your heart! Thank G-D for people like you! You matter HUGE!!! Hugs from here till next time.

P.S. Wish you guys coild join Fran and I for a great creekside dinner tonight.

Yes, it is true, there is freedom of choice, but isn’t littering technically illegal?!?🙂 You are right, I can only control myself, but it makes me sad when others do this. And, oh we would LOVE to join in a creekside dinner!!!! 🙂

Yes – littering is punishable in certain areas of our world. That said, people are still free in many parts of our world to do the “illegal” thing, and hope that no one is watching. It would be nice for the 4 of us to “break bread” at some point. I’d like that. Hugs from here until next time. “Keep Walking.”

Whenever I see what your talking about I think of this ad: http://youtu.be/j7OHG7tHrNM – Indian Crying – Keep America Beautiful commericial. I understand your sentiments here and have expressed them complete with far too many expletives most of my life. Don’t give up and keep teaching your children and continue leading by example. It matters.

It definitely sucks to see that kind of scene when you’re out and about. I just remember what my mom always told me “It doesn’t matter what others do, it only matters what you do and what actions you take to make things right.” I definitely take that to heart and do my best to help around the community any way I can with my volunteer group whether that be cooking for the homeless or picking up trash. I completely get where you’re coming from though as I too get really upset over this.

Sigh. I share your frustration here. It’s difficult to see the level of uncaring (?) in this realm, and still feel like I make a difference at all when I choose, say, to recycle or pick up a piece of stray trash. I guess we can only do what we can do!

That there is freedom of choice does not mean that any choice is right, or even that anyone will make the wrong choice. On top of the individual responsibility, in this case not to litter, there are a number of things both residents and authorities can do about littering. Encouraging reporting and then prosecuting is one; but education is another, reducing waste packaging another and more litter-bins regularly emptied are often effective.

It is not just a question of individual irresponsibility. A marketised society treats everything as a transaction between the individual (or family) and whoever they’re buying things from, whether it’s a shop or a government. Then the individual feels no responsibility for communal property. A community, on the other hand, involves all its members in shared responsibility for what it holds and values in common. The U.S. used to have very strong communities, but the community spirit is in decline in most developed countries. It can be revived, though, by bringing people together (young and old, for example) and by projects where something is gained by working together.

I agree with you – I suppose it depends on the country as to whether prosecution or education is more effective… I agree with you completely, the loss of community MUST be adding to the lack of desire to take pride in and care about neighborhoods.

Round where I live, one of the most obvious problems is dog mess. Lots of people own dogs and not a few don’t care about dealing with the mess. The local council employs two dog wardens who do their best and can prosecute, but identifying the offenders is very hard. I do think some of them might listen to their children, so education through the schools may be a good way of attacking it.